If it looks like a familiar national Mexican food chain designed for speed and freshness, that's not by accident. Chicago's first Blaze Pizza, located next to the Belmont Red Line stop, lays out everything in front of you, all 40-plus ingredients, and then lets you decide how to top it.

"For approximately $7 you can get an 11 inch pizza with all the toppings that you want - sauces, cheese, fresh ingredients and dough made fresh in-house on a daily basis," said Adam Cummis of Blaze Pizza.

That dough is fresh, pressed out in a special, proprietary machine, then placed on a wooden pizza peel, awaiting your instructions. How about no sauce, shredded mozzarella, chicken and roasted peppers? All you need to do is wait three minutes, while the pizza cooks in the gas-fired oven, then maybe top it off with arugula and pesto? My choice is to stick to the basics: margherita-style, with chunks of fresh mozz, tomato sauce and basil, but maybe add some artichokes too. The pizzaolo works fast and efficiently. Since the crusts are thin, the pizzas cook quickly. They also have homemade s'mores you can pop in the oven.. And Cummis says even though Chicago has plenty of pizza styles, there's always room for one more player.

"There's all tastes people have in Chicago and there's no reason we can't have another pizza concept. Chicagoans like speed, and we're providing speed," said Cummis.

And this is not the last Blaze you're gonna see in Chicago, the next one is slated for the springtime, near Ontario and Michigan downtown.

The restaurant is open every day at 11 a.m.

There is also a location in Milwaukee and more planned in the Midwest.